The queen dragon slowed down and swiveled her head towards their group in a rathe ominous way. Garek tightened his grip, prepared to plunge them all back into darkness again if that was needed, though it wouldn’t prevent a gout of flames to the face. The queen responded. Garek had no clue what kind of exchange went down, but judging by the way the enemy queen bared her teeth and inhaled sharply, it probably wasn’t good.
We fight, Nicole said to Garek, and he hastily relayed the information to the others, who all looked as startled and determined as he felt. Yvonne instantly pulled on her magic, extracting from a water source below them, which came hurtling upwards like reverse waterfalls. Helen’s magic pressed into him, flooding him with adrenaline, cheer, conviction that they would win, empowering their entire team to action. His mind raced through possibilities, and he saw, from nearby, Maya and Renne flying through the air, joining them and spitting out icy arrows towards the glowing queen. The arrows landed, but seemed ineffectual. The enemy queen bellowed and spat blue-hot flames towards them, which Nicole dodged by ducking below, flying rapidly towards the queen as the stream of fire followed. They shouldn’t get too close to the queen – that golden crackling had killed dozens of people…
Helen’s magic pushed on the queen, trying with great focus to break into the emotions and stir fear and doubt. Yvonne’s waterfalls spiked towards the queen from all directions, frosting into icicles that aimed exclusively to freeze the wings. The magic dissolved into ineffectual water as it clashed against the crackling lightning.
Nicole belched out blue fire, but it wasn’t nearly as strong and powerful as the queen’s, and Nicole didn’t have that golden electricity surging through her either.
Adrenaline sent his thoughts and body into a frenzy, possibilities zipping through his mind as they dealt with the powerful queen. He saw dragons abandoning their attacks to leap to the defense of their queen, and knew then what he should do.
Calling on his magic, praying it wouldn’t be the single most stupidest thing he’d ever attempted, he sucked their entire group into the shadows – along with the enemy queen. Which was harder than it looked without physically touching her. He had to force it, even with the empowered magic, one molecule at a time. By the time he fully swallowed up the queen, he barely had any magic left to think, let alone do anything more exotic, like break her up into nothingness.
No wonder Elena had blacked out instantly when she did the same to the enemy dragons at the clutch: too much power was needed to drag people beyond, and the further the distance…
Flames extinguished instantly. The magic each side had been throwing at one another dissipated, unable to work in this place, while Garek clung desperately into keeping them all in.
Nicole, who had seen Garek’s intent to transform, curled upward, angling towards the queen’s body from below. She smashed into the wing of the now powerless queen, tearing into it before the queen had time to register what was happening. Nicole gnawed at the wing joint, and although she was huge, she seemed like a child compared to the opposing queen. Not childish enough to claw through the wing of the queen, however, who howled, only heard in their version of reality.
“Skies,” Yvonne yelped, all of the humans and unicirim clinging onto Nicole for dear life. Callum took deep, wheezing breaths, not happy to be on the back of a dragon. With one wing savaged, the enemy queen screeched as she plummeted towards the ground.
It might not kill her, Nicole thought to Garek. Dragons are strong.
The further away the queen fell, the looser Garek’s grip on her became, until with a gasping shudder, he yanked them all out of the shadows as if breaking the surface of water, just in time to see a lot of angry dragons crowding them in.
“I – I can’t do it anymore,” he choked, hands weakly holding onto Nicole’s spikes. Showers of water surrounded Nicole, transforming into icicles, and Maya and Renne, the only people he didn’t drag into the shadows – they were already circling, spitting off more icy arrows at the dragons. Some dragons peeled away to dive after their queen, others, howling and spitting in fury, lunged at them without any reason or grace behind it. Icy beams of magic shot around them in a cascade of bright blue, weaving with the orange, reds and yellows of fire, stars, and destruction. Nicole roared something with her mind, but it was the incomprehensible language of dragons, which swelled louder and louder until it reached a crescendo.
“Look!” Helen gasped through all the other sounds, and Garek’s focus fastened on the sight of several dragons supporting an unconscious queen, flying through the air, followed by dozens of others in a protective guard.
Renne and Maya made to sweep after them, but some of the dragons practically suicided themselves at the couple, utterly determined not to let any more harm come to their queen.
We must leave them, Nicole said. They would fight to their last breath to protect their queen; we would take her with heavy losses.
Wearily, Garek relayed the statement, which was greeted by exclamations of annoyance from Callum and Yvonne. It seemed, however, more and more dragons were joining the guard, while a few others stayed behind, preferring to die rather than lose the queen. Garek almost admired their zealous dedication, though unfortunately they were on the side of those would wanted to burn him alive. To think that he once took a contract from these creatures, to return the queen egg to River’s End, and then had the terms changed once Nicole was hatched.
The last of the draconic defenders fell, but a big majority of dragons had fled with their unconscious queen, gliding over the ocean to their original homeland on the other side. Though it seemed like many had escaped, many more were fallen in the city, their bodies crushing buildings, alongside the strewn corpses of ordinary soldiers. Flames danced in the gathering dusk, burning some of the dead, claiming additional lives under the inferno. Smoke burned Garek’s lungs, even as Yvonne converted her attacks to putting out fires, swooping water from various sources on the ground to douse the flames, while wind witches controlled the spread by cutting off the fire’s source of fuel.
The city burned, but it now belonged to the people. No longer to the dragons who had fled like rats, who had taken over this place for decades, trying to transform it into something that belonged to them.
He supposed they hadn’t succeeded very well. Likely there were still small dragon hold outs nearby, but the main one had been purged; the queen injured or dead.
Helen sent one last burst of fear towards some of the only dragons remaining, and Nicole descended to earth, until they were close enough to hear cheering, sobbing and celebrations.
The battle for River’s End was over. All that was left was to prepare everyone for the aftermath.
13
Elena
Elena blinked awake, though her eyes struggled to register the confusion of colors and brightness. It took a moment or two to adjust, until she comprehended what she looked at. A ceiling, dark and warm and wooden, with light witch orbs illuminating the walls rather than earthen electricity. So, she figured herself to be in Albalon, still.
What was the last thing to happen? Her sluggish brain searched through memories, until she remembered her descent into the dangerous side of her magic, of separating dragons from their limbs, and the utter, bone deep exhaustion that followed. Inspecting the room around her, she wondered what the hell had happened. Had the fight for River’s End been concluded? Did they win or lose? And how long, exactly, had she been out?
No one waited for her by the bedside, which slightly disappointed. She’d been hoping for her mother or father, maybe even Garek. Her mind reached out, trying to contact Garek or Nicole.
Hello? I’m awake. Are you there? Is everything okay?
Instant answers. Everything’s okay! Nicole sounded overjoyed to hear her, and an image of a happy dragon making loops through the air accompanied the thought. It cheered up Elena to no end, which intensified when Garek’s voice chimed in.
I’m coming to see you.
How
long have I been out? She sent the thought and began stretching her limbs, which felt weak and creaky.
About two weeks, Garek said, and Elena gaped blankly at the ceiling for a moment.
Two weeks?
You were being fed a liquid diet. And wearing those baby nappies from your parent’s stall.
Flushing, Elena pushed off the bedcovers to see that she was indeed wearing a Pampers nappy, but thankfully, she hadn’t soiled these ones. Also, she felt a sudden urge to want to take a shower.
My god, my mouth feels rancid. I’m unclean. You guys can’t see me like this!
I’m sure you’ll have enough time to wash before my arrival, Garek thought wryly. I assume you want to know what happened in River’s End?
Oh. Right. That was something she’d temporarily forgotten. Uh, yeah. Did we win?
We did, Garek confirmed, and Nicole sent a crowing noise of sheer elation. We won, though the losses were quite heavy on both sides, I heard. The remaining dragons have fled to their island across the sea. People are busy repairing buildings, and we also missed the coronation of king Renne and queen Maya five days ago. Other than that… you didn’t miss much.
Are you kidding? Elena beamed back. Those are literally the two biggest things to happen in Albalon this century, and I missed both of them.
You did take part in the battle if that helps any? He replied, and she rolled her eyes.
When she staggered out of bed, finding out her limbs were still ridiculously weak, she got some assistance from a servant who had heard the commotion, and was halfway through dipping herself in a nice, warm bath, when her mother burst in. Elena shrieked and hid under the water, but there was only a thin layer of foam.
“Jesus, mom! You can’t just walk in like that! I’m naked!”
“Like I haven’t seen it hundreds of times before,” her mother scoffed, before striding over to give her daughter a hug. Elena reluctantly accepted it, draping wet arms over her mother, who didn’t seem to care. “I’m glad you pulled through. I can’t say I wasn’t worried, seeing you unconscious like this, with no signs of waking up… I wondered if you’d pushed too far with that magic of yours.”
I almost did, Elena thought with a shiver, but she didn’t want to say that out loud to her mother. “I’m fine. Garek’s visiting shortly, and… he’s told me that we won the battle. How long I’ve been out for.”
“Ah, yes, yes. Well, I won’t stay around too long, so you and your man can have some time to yourselves,” she said with an awful attempt at a wink. “But just remember, now all the madness is over, if you want to return to our little stall, you’re more than welcome. Otherwise… just… pay your old mother and father a visit from time to time, yes?”
“Of course I will,” Elena sighed, knowing that she didn’t want to go back to the Realm Market. Not with two extra additions to her life in the form of Garek and Nicole. Although Nicole was technically her ward, clearly Nicole didn’t need much more protecting.
At all.
My baby’s all grown up, she thought, which was accompanied by snorting amusement from Nicole and Garek.
Her mother gave another hug, and a rather sloppy kiss on her forehead, before leaving, wiping her eyes and humming happily. Elena finally finished her bath, warm from her mother’s affection, happy from the knowledge that their shuffling the whole army to River’s End had paid off. That no one she truly cared about had died.
Though… she was a little sad she missed out on the celebrations. Leaving the little cabin she was hole up in, she found herself on the outskirts of River’s End, and saw dozens of construction projects in place. People already renovating the city, tearing down the huge perches the dragons had made, or converting them into homes instead. She saw much smaller exile dragons and unicirim flying around with ropes and materials. People walking in the streets, people already selling, and others streaming gradually from the nearest waypoints. The royal banners covered the outer walls that weren’t damaged.
She’d helped contribute to this. And it made her feel damn good.
Nicole and Garek arrived a few moments later, Nicole swooping down and landing so that the grassy earth gave a little shudder.
Garek shifted from his creamy white unicirim form and enveloped her in a very human hug, lifting her off her feet, before exclaiming when she coughed.
“Oh, you might not be fully recovered yet! Sorry!”
“I’m okay,” she said with a smile. “Just a little wobbly on my feet is all.” Standing and moving took a lot of effort.
“Sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up. Me and Nicole – we were watching people enter the new hatchery we have with all the eggs we stole. Seeing if any of them will hatch for humans or unicirim or exiles. None so far, but it’s only a matter of time, right?”
A new future with dragons. Sounded nice. Also sounded like something she wanted to see. But not before she drew Garek close to her, and kissed him for all she was worth, until stars exploded in front of her eyes, and she became breathless with passion. Also, exhaustion.
“Hey, hey. We’ll have plenty of time for that later,” he promised her, his fingers threading through her hair, soft and soothing to her body. She closed her eyes for a moment, shivers of warmth rippling through her.
Seemed hard to believe that she now had a very different future from the one she had originally planned. Maybe her heist had failed spectacularly when it came to stealing the egg, but it did provide her with a future, a partner, and a rather unexpected dragon child. She could think of a worse child to have, in all honesty.
Garek shared with her what had happened after she blanked out. The eggs they escorted, Nicole’s insistence to join the battle, and the fighting against the queen. It struck Elena that both shadow witches had contributed significantly to the war effort. More than people not that interested in fighting wars should have. But nothing compared to those who lay down their lives to ensure a brighter future.
“They mourned the fallen a day before the coronation,” Garek said. “They wanted to give it some time for the populace to grieve, for families to take care of their lost ones the way they wanted.”
It seemed… sad to her, somehow. Maybe in the future, they’d have a day to honor the fallen. Maybe not. Although it was hard to guess just what the future held in store anymore.
Come with us, Nicole insisted excitedly. We want to show you the hatchery!
With Garek’s help, Elena clambered onto Nicole’s back, and leaned against him as the golden queen launched into the air, heading for the newly established hatchery on the south-western side of River’s End, in a former dragon roosting spot on the ground. There was enough room for Nicole to comfortably move in and out, and Elena noted that in the south-western quadrant, the perches and remnants of the dragons were preserved – perhaps to support the new dragon population they planned to create.
This is the future, Nicole said proudly, as some of the humans on the ground waved at her happily, and a mother’s tiny child pointed at Nicole, his eyes huge, mouth hanging open in awe.
Seems you’ve already got some fans, Nicole, Elena said, a little self-conscious of all the attention on them. Inside the roosting chambers, carved and shaped like marbled caverns, she spotted a small line of people waiting to enter a room that radiated heat and orange light.
“That’s where people are meeting with some of the eggs, seeing if they’ll hatch for them,” Garek said, before noting Elena’s slight wobble and scooping her up into his arms, bridal style. She wrapped her hands around his neck and smiled, slightly flushed with embarrassment at how her limbs trembled like a newborn lamb’s. She probably shouldn’t be exerting herself like this so much, but she was also excited to see a new dragon hatch.
And hopefully not another one for her and Garek. That shit might be awkward.
I wonder if I’ll get a hatch-sibling, Nicole said, in confirmation of Elena’s suspicion. You two have such potent magic. Wouldn’t it be great if they all hatched for you?
<
br /> Please, god, no, Elena moaned in response. Two of you in my head is enough. Dozens of you? I’ll be driven insane. She didn’t want so many baby dragons babbling in her head and them all trying to hold conversations with one another. No way.
Dreading this scenario, she was carried into one of the hatchery rooms, big enough for Nicole to trundle into, and spotted some familiar faces there. All of them were sat in chairs on one side, furthest from the blazing furnaces, talking. All the royals including the freshly crowned queen Maya, the two bodyguards that followed Callum around, Yvonne, Thorn, and Helen, with some crusty old man and a neatly trimmed man with crisp military uniform. Less familiar were the men and women with odd colored eyes, denoting them as exiles.
After greetings, Renne announced that they were all going to touch the eggs to see if any of them might hatch. “It’d be good for extra dragons to start hatching. It’ll prove to our people we can have all types of dragons as companions and friends, then. Nicole’s a little too unique at the moment. So here’s hoping…”
“Here’s hoping I don’t get another one,” Elena said, and although it made several of the others laugh, she’d been deadly serious. She had quite enough responsibility to be getting on with.
“I don’t know, maybe I could do with another. I’ve always been interested in the idea of two kids – one boy, one girl. Get the set.” Garek grinned and elbowed Elena, and she flushed, because that sounded awfully like he wanted to have children. With her. Which was ridiculous, of course, because they’d been caught in a whirlwind affair, thrust together after years, and only recently recovered lost memories that spoke of a stronger connection. A Bond tainted due to the power it held and the danger they presented.
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